Success IS a Numbers Game

What do I mean by Success IS a Numbers Game? Simply this: you can’t be successful until you reach a much larger number of individuals than most people reading this realize. Those who read this entire post will be many miles further down their own road to success. Bear with me as I explain the basics and share what you must know.

Remember the first time you ever placed a classified ad for a used car? You got a call or two and were just sure you had found your buyer. What happened? In case you never have advertised anything or don’t recall, here is what probably occurred:

What percentage of the circulation of that paper actually read your ad?

Of those that read it, what percentage bothered to call?

Some did call. Did they do what they said they would do?

How many who said they were coming to see it actually did?

Did some say they were definitely going to buy. Did they?

The reason I took you through those questions is in hopes that you will understand that you must reach far more individuals than most ever imagine in order to generate the number of completed goals you are seeking – whether they be leads, sales or subscribers. Let’s call these goals conversions for the rest of this post.

While percentages DO vary greatly, 1-2% is a good target to aim for at the start. What this means is for every one to two conversions you expect to make you need 100 TARGETED visitors. To get those 100 visitors you need 500-1000 impressions. How many sites send you 500-1000 visitors in a day, week or month?

Did you realize that you needed 500-1000 impressions and 50-100 visitors for every conversion you hope to generate?

If you didn’t you are in good company. I suspect most business owners do not – at least not until they start truly understanding Web analytics. Now you know why there is so much emphasis on Search Engine Optimization, incoming links, Pay-Per-Click advertising and more recently on Social Networking sites. For many businesses and blogs, only search engines ever send them sufficient traffic to generate repeat conversions.

Double your conversion rate and you generate twice the revenue at a lower cost from the same traffic.

If you want to see this more clearly I hope you’ll click through to The Two Levers of ECommerce to see an example in real dollars that show the difference in revenue from increasing traffic versus increasing conversions.

You can also take advantage of the Usability ROI Calculator created by Dr. Peter. J. Meyers aka Dr. Pete. He designed it to explain why investing in improved usability pays off financially; however, it also clearly shows you how improvements in your your conversion rate increases your monthly and annual profit. (Improving the usability of your site is not the only way but IS one of the most important ways to increase your conversion rate.)

We highly recommend reading and subscribing to UserEffect. Either apply what they share or get assistance improving your site’s usability. It can really make a huge difference.

If you are buying pay-per-click (ppc) traffic this is even more important. While we still encourage you to clearly understand the risks of ppc advertising there is no faster way to generate revenue so we’re going to be posting some exceptional resources to assist you. Watch for another post shortly on how to get the most from your Google Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft AdCenter ad spend.

In the meantime, you may want to scan the categories in the right sidebar (sidebar is WordPress-speak for column) for many ways to generate free traffic. We’re working on some awesome Best Practices processes for tracking what you’re doing so if you aren’t already a regular reader we hope you decide to join us.

P.S. If you don’t believe that only 1-2% is the “normal” range for taking action here is a simple way to prove it if you have access to any Google Analytics account. Log in, click on Content, then Site Overlay and wait for the page to load. This view allows you to see what percentage of your visitors clicked on each available link on any page. You can click through to other pages to see what links are most popular there too. [Be patient – it can take a few minutes for each page’s stats to load.]

Note that if there is more than one link to the same destination the percentages shown are the combined percentage for them collectively. If you don’t see many percentages increase the time you’re viewing. (Google Analytics defaults to the past thirty days if it has not been changed.)

This is also a good way to see what types of comments and commentators your readers find most interesting based on which they click through to visit. You may wish to share that information with your regular commentors – and consider emulating the most successful.

POST UPDATE: These percentages apply to TARGETED traffic such as what you buy using ppc ads triggered by very specific keyword phrases running SEARCH ONLY. Expect content ads and traffic from Social Networking sites to have much higher bounce rates and convert far less frequently because those are curiosity clicks rather than someone seeking to buy what you’re offering. We NEVER recommend spam traffic and suspect it would convert at less than 1/10 to 1/100th of 1 percent. Content ads and Social Networking should not be expected to convert nearly as well as search.

Gail Gardner is the founder of GrowMap.com. She is a Small Business Marketing Strategist she mentors small businesses, bloggers, and freelancers.
After 23 years in the field with IBM and 5.5 years managing AdWords accounts, her focus shifted to small business marketing strategy. GrowMap.com is listed by Cision as a Top 100 Site for Marketers and has received three Small Business Influencer Awards from Small Business Trends. Named by D&B a Top 50 SMB Influencer on Twitter, you can follow Gail @GrowMap and on LinkedIn.

Comments

I think Dan Thies from StomperNet talked about this. He was using a similar equation when talking about people getting to your site. Ironically, this whole equation is based on finding life on another planet. I guess it has multiple uses.

Well Noel, Google can do pretty much whatever they want and who knows what they really do? That is why we have to create our own traffic. That takes TIME and is what I’ve been working on for over three years already.

You can be part of the solution. Start by reading the post I’ve put in CommentLuv in this reply and notice especially the collaboration that created the DistrictBlooms Washington D.C. Influencers site.growmap would love you to read ..Why Your Geographic Location IS a Niche

You said something very important in your reply which I find in my business, most real estate agents are not patient. Building traffic takes TIME and effort. Most people are not patient and wish for things to happen over night. Excellent article.

I truly believe that Internet success is a numbers game. Higher traffic means opportunity, now how you measure your traffic and what you do with it will determine your overall success.
.-= Danny @ Tampa Homes For Sale´s last blog ..Tampa to receive recovery act grant money =-.

I agree with you & person above that success is all about the numbers. Smart work & dedications are the key factors too, but to get success one must have a vision & believe that he can do it. I mean what if you calculated everything manage to write it down, but after sometimes you believe that you can’t do it. I think if there is a big hurdle in your success it will be only you, because achieving your goals are not easy, it takes time & dedication & good work. Most important how you calculate your numbers.

Yes, it’s true you have to get heaps of views before you succeed. I notice this a lot when I do offline promotions.

I use flyers to promote a few geo-specific affiliate programs, including a real estate one. What I’ve noticed is that if I do, say 200-300 flyers for this program, I’ll get one click on the landing page. One in ten of those clicks becomes a genuine lead when they order a free DVD.

I’ve now got about 25 leads. None have converted yet. But it’s big money when one does, so I’ll keep using this method.

Success is all about numbers, especially when you are considering making sales on a website, as well as your bounce rate. This is encouraging to hear because you have to reach a lot of people to actually start making an impact on your business.

Thing about number games is that you can play whole your life and never win, or you can play once and get everything. You are not increasing your changes while playing, the chances are always the same, because every drawing is like a starting from the beginning. So I think that if we match success witch number games we must also say that success is something that happens to one from millions 🙂 And there is something about that thought. Not every one can achieve success, there is limited space in that garden.

If you’re thinking of winning the lottery I would agree with you. If you’re thinking about growing a business there is unlimited space for success. Only the few achieve it though because most others don’t understand “the game”.

Success is continual improvement of a thousand different variables in a very specific niche. Mediocrity can not get you there or keep you there. Trying to be everything to everyone will hold you back forever. Only those who choose wisely and keep learning and growing succeed.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Major Television Stations Feature MyLocalLookup =-.

I must have run out of my allowable thread replies as I’m back to the bottom again! Anyway I’m going to have to wait a bit on my website optimiser test to get enough traffic to the page to tell which version is the winner. I think I’ll have to set up a few more to get them going on the data collection lead time. I was going to wait a bit and use what I’d learned in the first one to implement on other pages but I could be here forever!

The site search bit in GA is in the Content section. I thought it wasn’t working because my search box wasn’t set up with Google’s tool, but I’ve just checked now and I have 4 searches – 3 are foreign languages though so not much use!!! Still I’m pleased it’s working. I guess I don’t need to bother with Lijit just yet.

You know the Website Optimizer is a multi-variate testing tool and not an A/B test tool, right? The difference for those who don’t know is an A/B test has two versions of a page while multi-vatiate allows you to test many variations at once. If you test multiple items on each page you do need that much more traffic to get measurable results.

I’ve been using the Website Optimiser A/B set up option as the multivariate option says it’s only suitable for pages with high traffic, which I’d love mine to be but I’m not quite there yet!! Soon I hope with more of your growth tips!

It does take more traffic to get enough visitors to get statistically significant results using multivariate testing. I’m working to put together entire processes with a way to track them so businesses can consistently keep growing. It is far more complicated than most realize.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..ppcSummit Seminar Discount Extended to Sept 1, 2009 =-.

This is a great post, but I’m not sure conversion rates are ALWAYS more important than traffic. Surely there comes a time when you’ve grabbed all the low hanging fruit when it comes to usability. When your site is converting reasonably well, at this point isn’t it time to push harder for more traffic?
.-= Spot@Gadget Blog´s last blog ..The Kindle 2 vs The Kindle DX =-.

If you have a business with sales that are chugging along and your sales suddenly drop because your conversion rate did then you’ll agree that they really are ALWAYS more important!

You must get them up to 1% at the very minimum and ideally over 2%. (Some businesses they can be much higher but 2% is a general norm.) Then, yes, you do want to get more traffic.

Remember that some traffic jumps can make overall conversion rates drop so when you check your conversion rates do it for separate traffic sources. All traffic is not created equal; Social Networking clicks rarely convert but that doesn’t mean you don’t want them. Only that you have to know the difference.

I had kind of being working on Matt’s theory but I see what you mean about working on improving conversion rates more perhaps than increasing traffic. I’m off to start work on doubling my conversion rate! Sounds so obvious now you’ve said it!
Cheers, Chloe
.-= Chloe @ Ben 10 Toys´s last blog ..VTech Kidizoom Digital Camera Review =-.

You’re one of my favorite readers because you actually apply what you learn here and elsewhere. I’m working on a new post about usability and have seen what small changes can do to both improve and crater sales so if you have any questions do ask.

I would definitely add a search box in the upper right on every page. Some visitors will arrive knowing what they want to find and you want it to be really easy for them to get there.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..TwtPoll: Where Should Tweet Links Go? =-.

And you’re my favourite site as you actually seem to care about helping your readers! Just getting a 2 or 3 word response on some sites is like pulling teeth, never mind the thoughts you share to comments. Anyway I do try to apply what you’re teaching – what else is the point of reading! I’ve set up some website optimiser A/B tests on a few pages to see if I can up my conversions – time will tell!

Am looking forward to the usability post. Small changes that do a lot are always welcome.

Yesterday I managed to get the searchbox you mentioned sorted and the logo moved to the left. Took me a while as I’m no techie but I got there in the end! I’ve just got to apply it to all pages now and I know there’s probably an easy way to have one header for all pages but I’m not there yet! Improving conversions is coming first!

Thank you. I appreciate having someone ask questions and understand what I’m sharing. If you have set up A/B tests with Website Optimizer I am impressed. I would love to hear your results. Perhaps you would like to have your results published as a post here?

I can ask Derek where the header information goes to make all the pages use one header. I haven’t had to learn that myself because Sammy and Derek already knew how and they’ve made changes for me.

Your logo looks good and I’m glad you got the search box on there. I did a test and it did find the Ben 10 Alien toy I searched for so it does work. The best way to test a search function is by doing a complex search containing several parameters (brand, model, model number, color, etc.). Those are where poor quality search functions fall down.

What most blogs could really use is a search prioritized by date and relevancy similar to the way Zuula Blog Search works. I haven’t seen one of those for bloggers yet but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

I’ll continue to visit your site periodically, send you traffic, and make suggestions. Thank you for being active here. Do check out my latest post and add your free listing at MyLocalLookup. The information is in the CommentLuv featured post.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Local Search Directory Taps the Power of Television =-.

I’ve set website optimiser up but it’s a bit of a hotch potch as my goal is to click through an affiliate link to a merchant but in my very limited experience I think you can’t do this on GA as you need to put code on the goal page which would be on the merchant’s site. So I use WO to split my pageviews between the two test pages and then have to manually fudge that information together with the click tracks I get from the merchant – so not ideal but with a bit more traffic I hope I will gain some insights. I will let you know. I need to investigate a better solution for tracking affiliate clicks back to traffic source and keyword etc, but there are not enough hours in the day!!

I’m glad you got the search to work – phew! I’ve tried to get the site search analytics data working in GA as I guess it would be great to see what people are actually looking for but no luck yet – I will plod on!

Talking about searches for blogs, do you know anything about Lijit? It seems to have some nice stats.

Sometimes we do have to make due until we can locate or create a tool that does what we really want to accomplish. You should get some insights doing it that way. I suspect there should be a tool for affiliates. I’ll see what I can find out.

Getting site search data into GA is a good idea too. I use site search data for one client but we pull it from another tool he uses because he has a Yahoo! store. I didn’t realize you could configure GA to pull it. That is something else I need to check into.

I don’t know much about Lijit other than I see it on many excellent blogs I frequent. One thing to be careful about is getting multiple tools to work when they all want you to place code on your site. It used to be quite a challenge getting each ppc engine’s conversion tracking code and Google Analytics and other trackers to play well together.

Often you have to keep moving them around to figure out where they have to be placed to keep them all working. Sometimes we had to put something – anything else – between the codes and other times put them in a particular order.

Wouldn’t it be great if more people would write up what they have learned so we could all benefit? That is what I do here; however, as you note there simply are not enough hours in the day – or days in the week!
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..ppcSummit Seminar Discount Extended to Sept 1, 2009 =-.

Very interesting link. I’ll be sharing it with others who manage ppc accounts. Great find. I hope most people are wise enough to add keyword phrases found with this tool to each of their ppc accounts and not just Microsoft.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Enhance Your Email Marketing with Social Media =-.

It is clear from the first two comments that some editing is needed. The reason I shared this is that I am certain that few businesses realize that only 1-2% of their visitors are going to take action. Your conversion rates are likely to be far higher provided the visitors come through a source that is geographically local to you.

They will be far less if the source is Social Networking in general because most of those visitors won’t ever need a DJ in Sacramento. Most of them probably don’t even know anyone in Sacramento!
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How Much Is A Memorable Logo Worth? =-.

Just don’t take it too far. Because it’s a short way between getting more people to hear about you and spamming everyone. Spammers make a lot of money this way. 99% of people ignores them but that 1% makes them more than enough money.

Good point. Perhaps I need to make more clear that I’m talking about targeted visitors – not spamming anyone and everyone. These numbers are for correctly targeted traffic. The percentages for spam have to be many decimal points to the right – probably converting only 1/10th to 1/100th of 1 percent.

The very first Web site I ever built back in the mid-1990s had a section specifically on deciding what the purpose of your site was before you had one built. Amazingly many today still don’t realize that there must be a reason and you should decide what it is FIRST.